NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8885
SPONSOR: Sillitti
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the minimum age to
vote at school district meetings or for election of school district
officers
 
PURPOSE:
To lower the voting age to 16 from 18 solely for purposes of voting in a
school board election.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivision 2 and the closing paragraph of section
2012 of the education law, to lower the voting age from 18 to L6 for
purposes of school board elections.
Section 2: Provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Lowering the voting age to 16 from 18 for school board elections will
give students the opportunity to participate in the election process for
the first time at a place that they are comfortable - their school. This
bill will allow students the opportunity to experience using voting
machines, and how to mark and submit a ballot. Giving students a chance
to become comfortable with exercising their voting rights will encourage
them to continue their participation in other elections when they turn
18. Also, allowing young people to be part of their school district
through voting, will foster a stronger sense of belonging and connection
to their community.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state. BOE already allows 16-year-olds to pre-register to
vote, so the list of eligible voters already exists.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8885
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SILLITTI -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the minimum age to
vote at school district meetings or for election of school district
officers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 and the closing paragraph of section 2012 of
2 the education law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 115 of the laws
3 of 1973 and the closing paragraph as amended by chapter 919 of the laws
4 of 1974, are amended to read as follows:
5 2. [Eighteen] Sixteen years of age.
6 No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to vote at any such meeting
7 or election, by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications required
8 by this section; and notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
9 section, no Indian [eighteen] sixteen years of age or over who, having
10 been born in the United States to a member of an Indian tribe, or having
11 been naturalized or otherwise acquired citizenship, shall have resided
12 on an Indian reservation in the state for a period of thirty days next
13 preceding the meeting or election at which he offers to vote or the
14 spouse of such Indian shall be deemed ineligible to vote at any such
15 meeting or election of the school district where the majority, as deter-
16 mined by the commissioner, of the Indian children of such reservation
17 are being educated under a contract pursuant to subdivision two of
18 section forty-one hundred one of this chapter, except that the parents
19 or guardians of Indian children of such reservation who are being
20 educated in the schools of a district other than the district which
21 educates the majority of such children, shall be eligible to vote only
22 in the district where their children are being so educated.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
24 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13708-01-3